The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy
"The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy" is the third season premiere. It aired on NBC on September 19, 1996. It was written by Michael Curtis & Gregory S. Malins and directed by Gail Mancuso. Ross's secret fantasy doesn't stay secret for long after he confides in Rachel. Chandler begins to rekindle his relationship with ex-girlfriend Janice. Plot The episode begins with the group walking into Central Perk and discovering that their couch is already occupied. They stand at the doorway for a moment, before slowly walking back out the door. Monica is still crushed by her break-up with Richard and hasn't slept in days. Ross even picks her up from The Szechuan Dragon when she believes she works there. When her father Jack drops by to talk to her, he reveals to her that Richard is also a mess - much more than he was after his marriage - which is good enough for Monica to start getting some closure with him. She finally falls asleep. Joey cannot stand that Chandler is dating Janice again. He tries to talk to the group about how to get rid of her, but they seem to have accepted her into the group. Chandler finds out that Joey has a problem with Janice and tells her. Janice talks to Joey and drags him with her and hangs out with him for a whole day. Although Joey pretends to have had fun, he still can't stand the woman, but Chandler appreciates his gesture and his efforts to like her. Rachel asks Ross what his secret fantasy is. He recounts the Return Of The Jedi scene where Princess Leia is shown as Jabba's prisoner wearing her notorious gold bikini. She tells Phoebe about it, and Phoebe makes a joke in front of Ross while holding two buns to the side of her head to look like Leia. Although at first appalled that Rachel shared his private fantasies with her friends, Ross tries to do the same with Chandler, but Chandler scares him off when he tells him how he imagines his mother when he's having sex with a girl (something which Joey does too, albeit with Chandler's mom in his head and not his own mother). Ross is about to fulfill his fantasy with a Rachel dressed exactly like Princess Leia, but Chandler's scary sexual fantasy kicks in and he start seeing his mother Judy in the Leia outfit. As Ross states about Chandler, "that bastard ruined my his life". Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green Courteney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Elliott Gould - Jack Geller Christina Pickles - Judy Geller Maggie Wheeler - Janice Litman Crew Grip Gerald Drake Directed By: Gail Mancuso Written By: Michael Curtis & Gregory S. Malins Trivia General * This is the only season premiere that doesn't pick up immediately after the events of the previous season finale. *When the gang walks into Central Perk, the couch is occupied by the writers of season three of Friends. *The contestant on Wheel of Fortune is actually Michael Curtis, one of the writers of this episode. * In this episode the cast members turn up to Central Perk and find their sofa occupied. This only happens three times in "The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy" (S3E1), The One With Unagi and The One Where Chandler Gets Caught. * Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) creator George Lucas sent the production team a letter, congratulating them on Ross's Princess Leia fantasy, which opened series 3 and is mentioned in the title. *When Chandler and Ross are "sharing", Chandler mentions two important future characters: Elle Macpherson and "that girl at the Xerox place": **In Season 6, Elle Macpherson, as Janine, becomes Joey's roommate and then his girlfriend. He breaks up with her when she keeps insulting Monica and Chandler. **In The One Where Ross And Rachel Take A Break and The One The Morning After, Chloe kisses and sleeps with Ross, which leads to him and Rachel breaking up. Goofs *In the scene where Janice tells Chandler about Joey and Janice's Day of Fun the position of her hair changes from in front of her shoulders to behind between shots. *When Ross and Rachel come back to her apartment after he has found out she told Phoebe, Ross gets a chocolate bar out of the fridge and takes a bite, however when the shot goes back to him a few seconds later the chocolate bar is whole. *When Rachel is dressed up as Princess Leia, she uses the legendary metal bikini, but she also is with the "cinnamon bun" hairstyle. In Return of the Jedi, Leia's hair while in the metal bikini was a pony tail. Although inaccurate, the "cinnamon bun" hairstyle is her most iconic look so that may be why they do that. *When Rachel and Ross are talking about the most romantic song ever, in the first shot, Rachel's elbow is on the table. In the next shot, is not anymore. *When Phoebe says "and disappear into the night." she's not holding anything, but in the next shot, she's holding a cup on her left hand. Continuity *At the end of the episode, Monica and Ross' father Jack smokes the cigar Monica left on the coffee table. As his wife is away on bridge night, Monica is asleep and Ross isn't there, this implies that he smokes secretly. This he does at least once again in The One Where Rosita Dies, where he lights up a cigarette out of guilt of ruining Monica's childhood memories by blocking the flood with her boxes. Episode Navigation Category:Friends Category:Season 3 Category:Friends Episodes Category:The bridy dance